Iranian Stews on a Diet: How to Eat Them

Yes, you can eat ghormeh sabzi (herb and bean stew), gheymeh (split pea and meat stew), fesenjan (pomegranate and walnut stew) and abgoosht (lamb and chickpea stew) on a diet. Most of the calories in Iranian stews don't come from the herbs and legumes themselves; they come from the oil the herbs and eggplant are fried in, the fat in the meat, the walnuts in fesenjan and the fried potatoes on top of gheymeh. If you keep those few spots under control and measure the rice beside the stew, stews can be a regular, delicious part of your diet.

This article is for education and doesn't replace advice from your own doctor.

Why stews aren't the enemy of a diet

Look at what goes into most stews and you'll find a very good combination: herbs and vegetables (the herbs for ghormeh, celery, okra, eggplant), legumes (red kidney beans, split peas) and protein (meat or chicken). These are exactly what a filling plate needs.

The problem is in our cooking habits, not in the stew itself:

• We fry the ghormeh herbs in lots of oil so they "settle in".
• We fry eggplant whole in oil, and eggplant soaks up oil like a sponge.
• We pile a layer of fried matchstick potatoes on top of gheymeh.
• We pick fatty meat and don't skim the fat off the stew.
• We serve two or three serving spoons of rice with tahdig (the crispy bottom layer) on the side.

In other words, a basically healthy dish turns into a high-energy one through a few small choices. Research has shown that a food's energy density, meaning calories per mouthful, has a big effect on how much total energy we eat. Oil is the most energy-dense thing in the kitchen, so reducing it makes the biggest difference.

Where are the calories hiding?

Frying oil

Oil, liquid or solid, has more energy per spoonful than any other food ingredient. Both ghormeh herbs and eggplant absorb oil, so the extra oil you pour into the pan effectively ends up on your plate.

Walnuts in fesenjan

Walnuts are a healthy nut with beneficial fats, but they are high in energy. Fesenjan usually contains a lot of walnuts, so even with no added oil it's one of the heaviest stews. That doesn't mean you should drop it; just take a smaller portion and eat it less often.

Fried potatoes

The fried potato sticks on gheymeh and eggplant dishes add both carbohydrate and oil. If you eat them with rice, you have two sources of starch in one meal.

Meat fat

Neck, rib and the sheep tail fat (donbeh) in abgoosht give flavor but also a lot of saturated fat. Leaner meat such as shoulder or trimmed leg, or skinless chicken, is a lighter choice.

Lighter ways to cook

You don't have to give up flavor. Try these changes one at a time:

1. Saute the herbs with less oil. Cook the ghormeh herbs in a non-stick pan with one or two spoonfuls of oil, over gentle heat with the lid on, so they cook in their own steam. The aroma is almost the same.
2. Grill or bake the eggplant. Brush the eggplant with a little oil and bake it in the oven or char it over a flame. This works for both eggplant stew and kashk-e bademjan (eggplant and whey dip).
3. Bake the potatoes or leave them out. Bake the potato sticks in the oven with one spoonful of oil, or skip them entirely if you're having rice.
4. Buy lean meat and remove the fat. Trim visible fat before cooking. If you cook the stew ahead, let it cool so the fat sets on top and you can lift it off easily.
5. Use more herbs. In celery stew (khoresh karafs), add more celery and parsley and keep the meat modest. In ghormeh sabzi, raise the ratio of herbs and beans.
6. Make fesenjan with fewer walnuts and chicken. Use a little less walnut and cook it longer to get the thickness instead. Skinless chicken is also lighter than fatty red meat.
7. Make abgoosht with less fat. Use less sheep tail fat or leave it out, and add more chickpeas and beans. Eat the torn bread (tarid) in a small amount, using wholegrain bread.

Rice and stew on the plate

Even the lightest stew gets heavy with three serving spoons of rice and tahdig. A simple pattern:

• One to two serving spoons (kafgir) of rice, or about a quarter of the plate.
• One to two ladles of stew, enough to cover your protein.
• Half a plate of salad or fresh herbs (sabzi khordan), especially next to heavier stews.
• A bowl of plain yogurt or a glass of low-salt doogh (savory yogurt drink) instead of soda.

We've written more about portions of rice, bread and the oil in kateh and polo in rice and bread in your diet.

Key point: Don't drop the stew. Cut the oil, add more herbs, choose lean meat and measure the rice beside it with a serving spoon.

Stew table: light, medium, heavy

This grouping is based on common cooking methods and isn't exact; the same stew made with less oil can drop a level.

A qualitative grouping of Iranian stews on a diet

Dish	Usual heaviness	Tip to make it lighter
Celery stew (khoresh karafs)	Light	More celery and parsley, lean meat, herbs sauteed in little oil
Okra stew (khoresh bamieh)	Light to medium	Don't fry the okra; cook it directly in the stew
Ghormeh sabzi	Medium	Herbs in little oil, more beans, lean meat
Abgoosht	Medium to heavy	Less sheep tail fat, more legumes, a small amount of wholegrain bread for tarid
Gheymeh	Medium to heavy	Leave out the fried potatoes or bake them
Eggplant stew (khoresh bademjan)	Heavy with fried eggplant	Grill or bake the eggplant
Fesenjan	Heavy because of the walnuts	Fewer walnuts, skinless chicken, a smaller portion

A weekly plan framework with Iranian dishes

A weekly plan helps spread heavy and light dishes so everything heavy doesn't land on the weekend. This is a sample framework you can adjust to your family's taste:

• Saturday: celery stew with one to two serving spoons of kateh, salad and yogurt.
• Sunday: lentil soup or bean stew with wholegrain bread and fresh herbs.
• Monday: low-oil ghormeh sabzi with rice and Shirazi salad.
• Tuesday: grilled or oven-baked chicken or fish with vegetables and a small amount of rice or bread.
• Wednesday: kashk-e bademjan with grilled eggplant and sangak (whole-wheat flatbread), alongside an egg or cheese.
• Thursday: gheymeh without fried potatoes, with salad and doogh.
• Friday: a family meal or gathering; for example fesenjan or abgoosht in a sensible portion.

Simple rules for the plan

1. One or two heavy stews a week is enough. Choose the rest from light stews, grilled dishes and legumes.
2. Have one cooked main dish a day. Keep the other meal simpler; for example, if lunch is stew and rice, dinner could be lentils or an omelet with salad.
3. Cook once, eat twice. Make a double batch of stew and freeze half so you don't reach for takeaway on tired nights.
4. Make salad a fixed part of the table. Put a plate of fresh herbs or salad next to every stew.

To get a rough idea of what your daily amount should be, the Rejimist calculator is a good place to start.

Parties, family meals and ready-made food

Party food is usually oilier and comes in bigger amounts, and the custom of taarof (polite insistence) makes it harder. A few ways to cope:

• Don't go to a party hungry. A light snack such as yogurt or fruit before you leave helps stop overeating.
• Serve your own plate. Salad and stew first, then rice in your usual amount.
• Taste a little of everything instead of filling up on one dish. When there are three stews, a small ladle of each is plenty.
• Taste the tahdig; don't fill your plate with it.
• Say, with a smile, "Thank you, I'm full." You don't have to explain your diet.
• One party night doesn't ruin your diet. Go back to your usual plan the next day, without making up for it by going hungry.

If you're the host, you can put a light stew, a big salad and a bowl of yogurt next to the main dishes, so you and any guests who are watching what they eat have options.

Ready-made and canned stews

If you sometimes buy canned stew or ready-fried herbs, check the label. The fat and salt in these products vary a lot. In how to read food labels we explain how to read the colored label.

If you have high blood pressure, kidney disease, high blood lipids or heart disease, be sure to set the salt and fat in your food with your doctor.

Summary

Iranian stews combine herbs, legumes and protein, and they have a place in a diet. Frying oil, lots of walnuts, fried potatoes, fatty meat and too much rice are the five places to keep an eye on. With a weekly plan that spreads light and heavy stews, a diet fits the family table. If you'd like this plan built around you and your tastes, at Rejimist a doctor writes your personal meal plan from your questionnaire and stays with you with a short daily message. Start at start your diet.

Sources

• World Health Organization (WHO). Healthy diet — Fact sheet.
• Rolls BJ. The relationship between dietary energy density and energy intake. Physiology & Behavior, 2009.
• Rolls BJ, Roe LS, Meengs JS. Larger portion sizes lead to a sustained increase in energy intake over 2 days. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 2006.
• Livingstone MBE, Pourshahidi LK. Portion size and obesity. Advances in Nutrition, 2014.
• Sacks FM, Lichtenstein AH, Wu JHY, et al. Dietary fats and cardiovascular disease: a presidential advisory from the American Heart Association. Circulation, 2017.
• Estruch R, Ros E, Salas-Salvadó J, et al. Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease with a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts. New England Journal of Medicine, 2018.